Easy Fruitcake Recipe - Foxy Folksy (2024)

FAQs

What is the best liquor to soak fruitcake in? ›

Evenly pour 1.5 - 2 ounces of your favorite bourbon, rum, brandy, or cognac, over the fruitcake. For a quick way to measure, use a standard-sized shot glass. Take care to pour slowly, allowing the liquor to absorb into the cake with minimal runoff.

Sugar and alcohol create a hostile environment for microorganisms. One ingredient that bolsters fruitcake's longevity is alcohol, says Bryan Quoc Le, a food scientist and faculty research fellow at Pacific Lutheran University.

Cognac is probably the best substitute for brandy in fruitcake.

There are a lot of benefits to feeding a fruitcake. It will help keep your cake moist (especially if you are storing it for a while) as well as give it extra flavour – and, if you're a little heavy-handed, it will also develop that characteristic boozy kick.

You can soak the fruit for days (or weeks) by adding alcohol and mixing as you go, allowing the dried fruit to soak up all the liquid. We do this by adding alcohol (or fruit juice or even a mix) bit by bit until the fruit is plump, or you can just soak overnight and add the rest of the alcohol after the cake is baked.

To make sure your fruitcake doesn't dry out, unwrap it every few days and brush it with rum, brandy, or a simple sugar syrup.

"In practical terms, this makes most fruitcakes extremely shelf stable, so they would be safe to eat for a long time – a really long time," Chapman says. "But it might taste pretty bad."

In The Early 1700s, Fruitcakes Were Outlawed In Europe

Over the centuries, people added increasingly sweeter ingredients to their fruitcakes until the cakes became decadence incarnate, which was morally wrong and thus made illegal.

Wrap each cake in several layers of cheesecloth and then in plastic wrap. Store the cakes in airtight containers in a cool dry place, but not in the refrigerator or freezer. Check carefully at least once a week, as rich, moist cakes mould very easily.

The most common duration to properly age a fruitcake is about three months. Any quicker will limit the development of complex flavors attributed to the maturing process. You can certainly age your cake for much longer than several months if you'd like, but we know how busy everyday life can be.

How often should I feed fruitcake? ›

Feeding the cake is a matter of personal preference but it is a good idea to feed it shortly after baking, while the cake is cooling in its tin. Then you can feed the cake one a week or once a fortnight. Use 1-2 tablespoons of alcohol each time and it may help to use a skewer to poke some holes in the cake first.

I'm not sure if you are wanting to avoid alcohol or just don't care for the taste of rum, but here are some of the other liquors that work for fruitcake: Brandy, sherry, cognac, amaretto, orange or coffee liqueur, and hazelnut schnapps.

Cakes crumble because they've dried out too much. From years of baking, I know that dry cakes happen for one of two reasons; using too much of your dry ingredients or over-baking your cake.

How to Store Fruitcake Without Alcohol? Fruitcake without alcohol won't last as long, however, its shelf life can still be maximized through proper storage techniques. Our fruitcake can last up to one month on your countertop, four months in the fridge, and six months in the freezer.

When cooled, remove cakes from pans and remove parchment paper. Brush cakes generously with sweet sherry, brandy, rum, port, liqueur or fruit juice; do not use wine. Using fruit juice can increase the chances of your fruitcake going mouldy. Wrap each cake in several layers of cheesecloth and then in plastic wrap.

I love the flavor of spiced rum in my Christmas cake, so that's what I use to soak my fruit. The dried fruits get rehydrated in the rum and soaks it all up, making it super juicy and flavorful. If you can't find spiced rum, you can also use dark rum, cognac, brandy or sherry to soak your fruits.

A rum baba or baba au rhum is a small yeast cake saturated in syrup made with hard liquor, usually rum, and sometimes filled with whipped cream or pastry cream.